Ndubuisi Egwim explains HMRC's control test for employment status. A self-employed plumber chooses their tools and methods; an employee works fixed rotas under supervision with assigned duties. Doctors with set schedules and organizational direction are classified as employed.
When HMRC considers whether someone is employed or self-employed for tax purposes, there's no single magic question they use. 3 areas that are especially useful when trying to understand the distinction. Now there's a second test which is even more interesting, is test 2, control. The second area is about control. So when my plumber arrived, again, back to plumber, explained the problem as I understood it from a layman view, I did not tell him which tool to use. I barely know which the names of the tools myself. But I did not prescribe the order in which you should test the system to find the problem. He decided how the work should be completed because in this case he was a specialist. Best I could do was to offer him a copper and get out of the way. So that helps us to understand control. So who decides what work gets done when you get to work? Are you being directed on what to do? Who decides how it's done? Who decides when it's done? Okay, so are you— do you have a supervisor supervising your work? And who decides where it must be done? Now compare that with your own work. Do you work within a fixed rota? You have to show up and you're inside a fixed rota with close supervision. Does the organization decide your hours? You have to— you can't just pick the hours you work. The organization decides it. Can also the organization move you between clinics or duties? Like you show up for something else, they can ask you to go do something else. Are you being supervised and managed in largely the same way as its employed doctors.
